Beyond the Divide?A Century of Canadian Mosque Design

By Tammy Gaber (McGill-Queen?s University Press, 2022)
REVIEW Roberto Chiotti
Beyond the Divide: A Century of Canadian Mosque Design provides a critical contribution to the international scholarship on the architecture of mosques and the social roles they play in diaspora Muslim communities throughout the world. Tammy Gaber has gifted our profession with a timely, welcome, and first-of-its-kind comprehensive study of Muslim sacred/social architecture here in Canada. 
Gaber?s research to create this in-depth record and analysis of half of Canada?s 180-some mosques was spread over nearly three years, and took her to 53 cities across 12 of Canada?s provinces and territories. The result is a rich review of the histories and contributions of Canadian Muslims over the past century. In each case, the mosques are documented with photographs taken in different light conditions to highlight architectural details, drawings?either existing or produced from on-site measurements taken by Gaber?archival records, and interviews with mosque users, members of their governance, and occasionally the architects who designed the buildings. In Gaber?s words, ?This book explores the mosques of Canada in their diversity, beauty, practicality, and versatility,? with emphasis always on the story of the mosques and the Muslim communities they serve.  In her introduction, Gaber shares that it is equally important to analyze both the exterior and...